Flooring and the like



May 28, 1929. A. R. SMITH FLOORING AND THE'LIKE Filed June ll, 1928 1TB/enter* Ywbhm* Smith, by 57H5 ism Atlcn-n ey.

Patented May 28, 1929.

Unir 'res ARTHUR R. SMITH, or sonnnnfofranr, NEW YORK.

autres FLOORING AND THE Linn.

Appiication fired June 11,1928. serial No. 254,299. Y

floor board, and an improved means for` fastening the same .in place, and for a consideration of what I believe to be novel and my invention, attention is directed to the accompanying description yand the claims appended thereto. p

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a floor embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional view through several of the boards shown in 1; Fig. 3 is a perspective view on a larger scale of a fastener which forms a part of my invention, and Fig. 4 is a perspective view of another form of fastener.

Referring to the drawing, 5 indicates a sub-flooring supported by Yfloor joists 6 and upon which flooring embodying my, invention is shown as'being laid.

According to my invention, I provide floor boards 7 having narrow grooves 8 along each edge, and for .fastening the boards in place, I provide metal' fasteners orv grips'having portions which fit into the grooves and especially arranged openings through whichthe nails are driven. The fasteners illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are shown as being formed from sheet metal which is reversely bent on itself to provide a top wall 9, side-flanges' or tongues 10 and spaced, downwardly-pro-V jecting supports or feet 11. At its central portion, top wall 9 is provided with a depression 12 for the reception ofV the lnailv head. At Vthe center of the depression is a nail hole 18 and in each of the downwardlyprojecting supports or feet is a nail hole 14C. Nail holes 14 are oblong to permit a nail to extend through them at an angle and they..

are positioned to direct the nailv at the de'- sired i, angle. On their undersides at Athe ends, flanges 10 are .preferably provided with-downwardly-projecting knife edges or Y sharpened extensions V15y which when the flanges 10 are forced into the grooves 8 bite into the wood to hold the boards against endwise movement. I may, if desirechmake lthe folds which form flanges 10vso they do not quite touch each other, thus giving .a little spring action to take up clearance in the groove. f

'the floor.

eine..

Beneath grooves 8, the boards arefcut away at. an angle as is'indicatedat'l, 'the angle being at least as great as that at which Vthe nails extend when passedthrough the holes' in the fasteners. IVith this arrangement, the nails are not driven through the i.

boards. This is an important consideration, especially in connection with "hardewood flooring for it is difficult to drive ynails through-hard-wood and in somecases it is necessary to drill holes in the boardsfor the nails, athingwhich is an expensive opera* tion and adds greatly to the cost offlaying Also, when nails are driven in the boards, especially adjacent to the ends of the boards, it happens often that the tongue i splits which makes it difficult if not impossible to draw the boards .together properly and sometimes requires, the replacing Lof .the

split board. By my'inventionythese dif-` culties are avoided entirely.

In the vic'inityof'groovesv 8 andfbelow Y them, the boards are cut back. asis indicated atI 17 `to provide space between the boards for the fasteners.V lThere remain engaging edges on the boards whichare indicatedfl* at18.A Y In laying the flooring, the first board is put 1n position" andv anchored at suitable intervals by the fasteners, thenails, indicated soA at 19, being driven through` the openings in 'i the fasteners linto v thel sub-flooring, asis clearly shown v2. `The individual fa-steners mayv be of ai length of the order of one or two inchesy and may be placed apart a distance of the order ofV two feet although in any particular case they may be further apart or closer together' as is found desirable.

The flanges 1,0 of the fasteners fit nicely in grooves 8, the dovvn-turned knife edges 15 to hold'the fasteners straight and to keep,

them frombeing bent downward either ac# biting into the wood, as already pointedout,

cidentally or when the nails are Ibeing driven. The. provisions of a means, such as y the feet 11, forsupporting the fasteners from the sub-flooring so as to positively position them is one important .feature of my construction for by. this means the fasi teners are all held straightso that when. the

`next board is putin position no difficulty is experienced in fittingitsgrooves onto the outwardlyprojecting llanges of the fasteners. y Y l v l ceding board, and the boards being drawn Y together by driving the nails at an angle as board;

v 5/8v inches.

is well understood. Since thefboards are alike on both edges, there being no tongue edge, it will be seen that'there is no right and leftv hand to aboard. This means that inlaying; a floor with boards embodying my invention there will be less waste in matchingv gra-in, in cutting initred joints and in ripping boards. This results also in. ay saving. in labor. Y

Affurtheradvantage of my invention is thatiini-laying a fioor, the floor may be' started in thez-middle or at" any point and laidin both, directions.. This is ofA advantage in that it insures that both sides `ofthe Hoor will be completed in a: similar manner;

@ne of the troubles experienced with tongue and groove flooring is that a nail driven through the tongue too close to the end? of the boardl will split the tongue from the body, which results, frequently, in a' loose end't'o theboard.- VBy. my.v invention, this is auoidedaTlieendsfof the boards can be firmly fastened. downzby fasteners located directly atthe ends. Also,fat abutted joints, fastener may beflocated to bridgethe joint ortwo fasteners may be located at the joint one on;eachside thus firmly holding down the boandendsand doing away with any necessity for putting a tongue and groove in the-ends, a thing sometimes done in orderv toinsure freedoni'rfroin loose boardends.

Thel useof myy invention results also in the savingaof aV substantial amount of wood. The usualitongue and Ygroove board. isV about onethird` the thickness of the board, which leaves'less than onefthird forfinishing and refinishing. l without reducing the upper side of the groove'to a. dangerousthinness. By my invention. the thickness of the tongue used'zbecomes almost negligible so that the grooves :may bemade correspondingly narrower, thusprovidinga greater thickness of board. above the groove. If the upper. section' and' the lower sectionof the board'are leftf-the saineas a regular'- tongue'and groove board, the thickness of; the board may be reduced: materially andv still provide a board equivalent to a.V regular tongue and groove For example, inthe case of a. 13 /16 inch-board, thethickness may be'reduced to Also, a substantial saving results inthe eliniinationiof the usual tongue. Floor.; boards are made narrow to' reduce the shrinkageof` individualboards so as to yavoid cracks opening up in the laid floor. In theY 'case` offA Ynarrow fiooring, the percentage of wastefdue to forming thetongue isxlarge and becomes a limiting factor in making narrow boards. For example, in a twoinch face board tliewaste due to the tongue is about sixteen per cent. By the elimination of the tongue and by making the board thinner after the manner pointed out above, I ani enabled to effect a total saving in lumber of the order of thirty per cent by the use of my invention; v l

rhe fasteners or grips may be made in various forms, either from sheet material 'or castings. in Fig. i I have showna modification wherein the fastener isfornicd i from a flat sheet suitably slottedand bent to provide the feet 20 and the flanges 2l,

leaving thetop portion 22 having the central depression 23 in which the nail hole is formed. In feet 2O are the slots'i: vfor .the nails.V

The ends are downturned and sharpened as is indicated at 25 to provide i by Letters Patentk of the United States, is zl. The combination with a boaid having a. groove and a cut-away portion below the groove, of a fastener having a 2 top` wall which provides aflangewhich fits into the groove and a supporting means for the flange, said top wall and supporting means being provided' kwith'openings to direct a nail'in an angular direction, andr said cutaway portion being atan angle suchrthat a nail; extending at an angle through the openings does not i the board; v

2. The combination with adjacent boards having opposededge grooves and cut-away portions below the grooves, of fasteners between the'boards havingY a top wall which provides fianges located in' said grooves and supporting ymeans foi` the flanges,y -saidtop wall, and supporting means 'being' provided with openings to direct-a nail in an angular pass through the material of direction, and nails which extend at anangle through. said openingsffor anchoring. the fasteners in position.

3. A fastener for use in anchoring aboard to a supporting board, said fastener comprising a flange adapted to engage a groove in the first-.named board and transversely Y to engage said supporting board, said top f wall and yfoot being provided with holes for directing a nail at an porting board. y

5. A fastener' for the purpose stated, coniprising a top wall, anges projecting from each side of the top wall,I and supporting feet depending from the top wall, said top wall and feet being provided with openings for directing a nail.

6. A fastener-for the purpose stated, coluprising a top wall, flanges projccting'vfroin each side of the top wall, and supporting means depending from the top wall, said top wall and supporting means being provided with openings for directing a nail. n

7. A fastener comprising a top wall having a depression and an opening through the wall of the depression, flanges projecting from the top wall, and supporting feet,said feet being provided withopenings adapted to co-operate with the first-named opening for directing a nail.

8. Aboard having an undercut portion along each edge below the face of the board5 angle into the supand a groove along each edge, whereby when two such boards are placed edge to edge there is provided a space beneath the face of the boards to receive a fastener, the lower edge of the undercut portion extending at an angle such that a nail driven through a fastener will not pass through the material of the board.

9. A flooring comprising boardsV having grooves in each edge and fasteners anchoring the boardsI in place, said fasteners comprislng'top walls having flanges which he in said grooves andl depending supportingl feet, said top .wall and feet being provided with openings which serve to direct a nail angular-ly7 and nails extending throughsaid openings.V

-l0. A fastener for use in anchoring a provided with an angularly extending sharpened edge. Y

ll. The combination with a board having a groove and a-cut away portion below the groove7 ofa' fastener having a flange which `lits into the groove and a supporting foot for the ila-nge, said cut away portion beingA at an angle such that a nail extending at an angle through the fastener does not pass `through the material of the board, and said flange being provided with an angnlarly extending edge which bites into the material of the board yto hold the board againstl end` wise movement.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set iny hand this 9th day of June, 1928.

. ARTHUR R. SMITH. 

